Handle for vacuum cleaners and the like



Oct. 7, 1941; H. T. LANG 2,258,252

HANDLE FOR VACUUM'CLEANERS AND THE LIKE Original Filed July 26, 1939 Inventor;

I Henry T. L mg,

His Attorney Patented Oct. 7, 1941 Henry T. Lang, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to Elec-. trio Vacuum Cleaner Company, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, a. corporation of New York Original application July 26, 1939, Serial No. 286,560. Divided and this application March 29, 1940, Serial No. 326,760

2 Claims.

, hand type electric tools such as vacuum cleaners and the like.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved handle construction in which th strain on the conductor cord is effectively relieved. For a consideration of what I believe to be novel and my invention, attention is directed to the following description and the claims appended thereto. a

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a hand type vacuum cleaner equipped with a handle embodying my invention; .Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the handle showing the switch in the open position; Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the switch in the closed position; Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 55 of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the strain relief sleeve for the conductor cord, and Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on line l-I of Fig. 2. I

Referring to the drawing, there is shown a vacuum cleaner having a suction nozzle I connected to the front of a casing 2. Within the casing is the conventional electric motor-driven fan which creates thesuction at the nozzle. The air drawn through th nozzle is'discharged to a bag 3 connected to the discharge outlet of the fan (not shown).

On the upper side of the vacuum cleaner is a handle 4 secured at its front end to the cleaner casing by means of a screw 5 extending down through a post 6 on the handle and threaded into a boss 1 on the cleaner casing. At the other groove l8 in the under side of the projecting end of the handle at the rear of the cleaner. As shown in Fig. 5, the groove has an opening or slot I9 of such size that the conductor cord It may be inserted therein, the condenser cord being placed over the opening and pressed transversely into the groove. After insertion of the conductor cord, it is pulled endwise to move the strain relief sleeve ll into the groove. The width of the opening I9 is sufliciently less than the diameter of the strain relief sleeve so that the strain relief sleeve is securely held in the groove. From one aspect, the groove can be described as having an enlarged portion for receiving the strain relief sleeve and a restricted mouth of size sufliciently large to permit passage of the conductor cord therethrough and of insufficient size to permit passage of the sleeve therethrough.

Integral with the inner end of the strain relief sleeve I! is a' rectangular flange 20 which fits between the side walls of the recess in and enend the handle is secured to the cleaner casing I by means of screws 8 extending through flanges 9 projecting from each side of the handle. The part of the handle intermediate the ends is spaced from the cleaner casing so that the handle may be gripped by the operator.

On the under side of the handle is a downwardly facing recess I 0 having on its top wall a seat for a switch 12. As shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the switch seat comprises an inclined surface l3 against which the bottom of the switch rests and side walls l4 engaging sides of the switch. The switch I2 is connectedby conductors IS in series with one of the line conductors of a conductor cord l8 connected to the cleaner. The conductor cord has molded thereto an enlarged rubber regages a shoulder 21 on the handle. The flange 20 takes the strain resulting from pulling the conductor cord IS. The lower side of the flange 20 has a curved part 2|a which conforms to the curvature of the vacuum cleaner casing and is clamped between the casing and the handle. With this construction a pull on the conductor cord I6 is transmitted from the conductor cord through th strain relief sleeve i1 and the parts 20 and 2Ia integral therewith directly to the handle.

The switch I2 is operated by a lever 22 which is pivoted in the recess i0 on a pin 23 extending between the side walls of the handle. The lever 22 is of U-shaped section as shown in Fig. 4, the sides of the lever being adjacent the inner walls of the recess land the bottom wall of the lever closing the recess. As shown in Fig. 2, the operating lever 24 of the switch extends between the sid walls of the lever 22. The force exerted on the switch operating lever 24 by raising of the lever 22 is upward and to the left as viewed in Fig. 3. This force accordingly acts in a direction to hold the switch against the inclined wall l3. The switch operating lever 24 is spring-biased to the open position shown in Fig. 2. Inthis position the lever 24 is slightly below the switch operating lever, the lower position of the lever 22 being limited by engagement of the end' of the lever with the inner surface of the post 6.

7 When the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 2, the switch is held against its seat solely by the conductors l5 which extend from the lief sleeve I! which fits in a downwardly facing inner end of the flange 20, strain relief sleeve l1,

up between the flange and the pin 23, and along the top wall of the recess, and are connected to the right-hand end of the switch I2. The conductors l are slightly longer than the distance between the strain relief sleeve and the switch, and the conductors accordingly exert a force on the switch to the left as viewed in Fig. 2, holding the switch against th bottom wall I3 of its seat and against a shoulder 25 at the left-hand end of the switch seat. The switch is more securely held in position by reason of the fact that the bottom wall l3 of the switch seat is inclined upwardly toward the right from th shoulder 25. The force exerted on the switch by the conductors l5 accordingly has an upward component holding the switch against the wall 13.

In the use of the cleaner the operator grips the handl and raises the lever 22 to the position shown in Fig. 3. During this movement the bottom wall of the lever 22 engages the switch operating lever 24 and moves it to the position shown in Fig. 3 in which the switch closes the circuit through the conductors IS. The force exerted on the lever 24 by the lever 22 also tends to hold the switch against its seat. This establishes a circuit to the vacuum cleaner motor and starts the operation of the vacuum cleaner. Upon releasing the handle the lever 22 returns to the position of Fig. 2, partly under the action of gravity and partly under the force of the switch operating lever 24. The operation has been described with the switch l2 being of the momentary contact type which is closed when the lever 24 is raised and open when the lever 24 is lowered. It is also feasible to use a switch of the type in which the switch is operated only by the raising of th lever 24. With this arrangement the switch upon being closed by lifting the lever 22 would remain in this position until the lever 22 was lowered and again raised.

With the above described handle construction the assembly of the conductor cord and switch is greatly simplified. The connection of the switch to the conductors l5 of the conductor cord is made outside the handle. cord is then placed over the opening l9 and pressed through the opening into the groove I8 and pulled endwise to move the strain relief sleeve into the groove with the flang 20 bearing against the shoulder 2|. placed on the inclined wall l3 at the top wall of the recess in the position illustrated, and is held in this position by the conductors IS. The

The conductor The switch is then lever 22 may now be placed in the recess and the pin 23 inserted to pivotally connect the lever to the handle. This completes the assembly of the handle and switch. Since the conductors l5 extend between the pin 23 and the flange 20, movement of th conductor from the position illustrated is substantially prevented. The slight clearance between the conductors i5 and the pin 23 is insufficient to permit movement of the conductors from the position against the top wall of the recess. When the handle is fastened to the cleaner the curved portion Zia of the flange 20 is clamped between the handle and the cleaner, holding the strain relief sleeve firmly in position.

The above described arrangement for mounting and supporting the switch is being claimed in my application Serial No. 286,560, filed July 26, 1939 and granted as Patent No. 2,211,603.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In combination, a handle having an end adapted to be secured to a device, a conductor cord having an enlarged strain relief slee e secured thereto, a groove in said end for receiving the sleeve, said groov having a restricted mouth of size sufiiciently large to permit passage of the conductor cord therethrough and of insufiicient size to permit passage of the sleev therethrough whereby the conductor cord may be inserted into the groove and then pulled endwise to move th sleeve into the groove, and a flange 0n the sleeve co-operating with'the handle to take the strain resulting from pulling on the conductor cord.

2. In combination, a handle having an end adapted to be secured to a device, a conductor cord having an enlarged strain relief sleeve secured thereto, a groove in said end for receiving the sleeve. said groove having a restricted mouth of size suihciently large to permit passage of the conductor cord therethrough and of insufficient size to permit passage of the sleeve therethrough whereby the conductor cord may be inserted into the groove and then pulled ndwise to move the sleeve into the groove, and an enlarged portion on the sleeve for'taking the strain resulting from pulling the conductor cord, said enlarged portion having a part arranged to be clamped be tween the handle and the device to which the handle is secured.

HENRY T. LANG. 

